The Allusions - Anthology 1966 - 1968

 

Fans of the early- and mid-'60s Merseybeat sound (the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Searchers, etc.) will probably love this 21-song compilation, which assembles the Allusions' complete recorded output over a four-year period. At their best, as on "Gypsy Woman," they had a fresh, original sound somewhere midway between the romanticism of the Beatles, the dynamism of the Kinks, and the Who's early ballads, with a unique vocal sound and good attack on their instruments. "Fever (Burns My Brain)" is a strange, yet workable, mix of two seemingly conflicting themes, a harsh, smooth farewell main lyric bridged by an achingly beautiful chorus reminiscent of Gerry & the Pacemakers vocally and the Zombies instrumentally. "The Dancer" is one of those odd low visibility numbers, like "I'll Remember the Night" by the Roulettes (whom these guys also resemble) that are such smooth and catchy examples of the Merseybeat sound that they belong on any anthology of the era and the music. "Roller Coaster Man" sounds like a Searchers outtake or a Gerry & the Pacemakers reject, with a guitar part that resembles "You Can't Do That." "Looks Like Trouble" owes a bit to "I Feel Fine" in its intro, although it also includes a thoroughly American garage-band style guitar break. Some of the later numbers, such as "Roundabout," are less interesting as songs, although even this wimpy ballad offers a catchy chorus and, overall, resembles nothing less than a decent Micky Dolenz-sung Monkees song. And "I'll Be Home" is the kind of song with which Ringo Starr could have done wonders, especially with the Beatlesque harmonies at the end of each line. The album's later songs are an interesting mix of subdued, moody ballads and high-energy rockers, such as "I Gotta Move," which may be the most Kinks-like cover of a Kinks track that you will ever hear. This disc's sound quality is excellent and the annotation extremely thorough.  

Listen: HERE

Alternative link: HERE

LOOK OUT, HERE COME "THE CYCLE PATHS"

The Cycle Paths. Formed in April 2011,the line-up is Stace Rose(guitar/vocals) Ian 'Edde' King(bass/backing vocals) and Andrew 'Bungle' Hardwick(drums).

 Stace and Ian had been messing around trying to put something together for a couple of years but both being guitarists, it was going nowhere.  Ian dabbled with drums to try and kick start things,but,despite being adequate, it wouldn't have worked.  Next up was the bass guitar for Ian,which he took to like an escaped con in a knocking shop!  Around that time Andy Hardwick asked on the off chance if the band needed a drummer. Thus The Cycle Paths were born officially(even though the name had been with Stace and Ian for 2 or 3 years).

 The next 6 months were spent getting songs ready until the debut gig,playing 2 sets to an enthusiastic crowd. More gigs have followed since around the Sheffield/Chesterfield/Nottingham area with the band growing in confidence and playing electrifying sets.

 On 22nd Jan 2012 the band went into G2 studios in Sheffield. The day was a success with 5 self-penned tunes turning out really well. This is to result in a debut ep due out soon (March) on Dizzy Holmes' Detour Records subsidiary label Paisley Archive.  "Last Tram To Halfway" also features "You Must Be A Devil" "Living With My Guilt" "Getting Better" and "Time To Say Goodbye." 

The band play anything from 60s garage to mod revival stuff plus they have their own takes on soul tunes and anything that takes their fancy. Such songs like, You're Gonna Miss Me, Frustration, Billy, The Magic Touch, Maybe Tomorrow, What A Way To Die ,Tube Station etc. 

The whole point of this band is enjoyment, both for the band and the people that go to see them. The band have a healthy following of people that go to their gigs, which usually end up in dancing and drinking and much merriment!

 

Upcoming gigs are-25th Feb,Three Horseshoes in Brimington, near Chesterfield.  24th March-Ashleigh Club, Clowne near Chesterfield.   25th April-Viper Rooms,Sheffield.   8th June-The Cremorne, Sheffield. 

You can contact and find out more about The Cycle Paths here  Facebook  and  Myspace

The upcoming EP has had extensive play on the 6 Towns Glory Boy radio show which airs on Sunday evening 7pm to 9pm GMT, so if you enjoy your Mod, Mod Revival , 60's Garage, Freakbeat and The Cycle Paths, check it out HERE

The Stairs - Mexican R'n'B

 

The weed bus takes us on a wiggy ride out of London, accompanied by the rustlings of Rizla and the popping of beer caps. We watch the dopey mess that is Help on the telly, and when we stagger off the charabanc we're properly pie-eyed and disoriented. Just about ready for planet Liddypool.
OK, so this may be an exceptional night at the (replica) Cavern, but it gives you some kind of crash course in the stuff that's both great and lacking in the music of this city. You realise just how schooled the bands are, so attentive and finicky about the tones and details that characterise beat music and early prog-rock. They're complete fans. What isn't so healthy is the way this can become so obsessive, how introverted and out-of-it the whole scene can be.
Anyway, The Stairs represent the better end of all this. They bounce around and give the impression that they're having an terrific time. Ged Lynn is a little waif of a bloke, but he goes into twang frenzy from the start, while another guy who looks like Eric Idle in tne Rutles twats his tambourine and then Edgar opens his enormous gob and produces a mass of growling, gut-bucket effects. The Stairs are fun.
I guess it was a mistake to do a set of covers before the 'real' show. It was a revelation to see them biffing out 'Over, Under, Sideways Down' - squint a little and see Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck shaking it with the Yardbirds in '66. But presently you get The Stairs' own songs, and you find that they're not so hugely different. 'Weed Bus' and 'Take No Notice...' have funny, spliff-suckin' storylines, but they sound like the other old things, and they haven't yet got the beauty in their writing - like The La's have - to transcend this.
The Stairs are good, but a wait-and-see band, deffo. They need some kind of perspective. Maybe - with all due respect - they should get out more. -[Stuart Bailie] New Musical Express

Listen:  Part 1  and Part 2 

Los Guajes - Life is like a Carousel. Review by Chusin Crochette

 

"Life is like a carousel" is the third album from the group, Los Guajes, passionate garage revival and Spanish sounds of the 60's.
For recording the third album, Los Guajes have relied again on the demolishing machinery of the Circo Perrotti analog studies, and have been back in the hands of the great Jorge explosion, which runs music production.

 "Life is like a carousel" album at hand, is a clear example of the qualities of this consolidated combo. Still apply the immediacy and freshness of the beginning of the band, and does not stop the imagination to make his lyrics sung in authentic dramas,  Hispanics vaudevilles .Their songs can range from a pure exercise in style as "Nothing in the world" to the vibrant melodies of "Carousel" or "See you is like dying", without neglecting its most villain in songs such as "Employee of the home" or "Marcelino" and without sacrificing the rawness more garajera of its chords in "Poison" or "nerves",or approaches to the psychedelia of "Crazy" and "Fiesta", or musical landismo who demonstrate, in effect more than ever in "Afine guy." And of course, if you forget, his expertise in recovering the classics, which in this example demonstrates a superbmicrogrooves and risky version of "Is It True" by Brenda Lee.
All this, combined with the excellent artistic design of this LP by John Roller.

You can find more information about Los Guajes at the bands official website: HERE 

(Use the drop down box in the top right corner to select your language) 

Chusin Crochette is bass player with Mod/Power Pop band "Stanley Road" who you can check out HERE and HERE

The Kinks - The Great Lost Kinks Album (1973)

 

After posting the Arthur album yesterday I went off on a right Kinks trip playing all my vinyl albums back to back and wondered what I was missing in amongst all the general releases and bootlegs and after very little research I came across this, I wondered how I managed to miss it.....maybe the clue is in the title?

The Great Lost Kinks Album is an Unreleased Compilation Album by the British Rock Band The Kinks.

The Kinks changed Labels. From Reprise Records they jumped to the RCA Label. Losing The Kinks was of course a great revenue loss at the time, so Reprise in an attempt to continue to capitalize the name, released this compilation, unauthorized by the Band Members. It consists mostly of Songs discarded on some sessions, the ones who weren't removed ended up appearing in the Album The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, alias the name The Great Lost Kinks Album, was the name Fans gave to the Album that was supposed to be released in 1969 but ended up becoming the Village Green Preservation... But this is not the only source, some of them were recorded to appear in British TV and Films, and of course two songs from Singles. Davies and his crew only got to know of the existence of the Album when they saw it on the billboard Charts and they immediately sued the company, forcing Reprise Records to discontinue the Album in 1975. Of course right after this it became a Collector's Item, even though it stayed in circulation for 2 years. As the songs were recorded in a 4 year span it is hard to say who were the Members that participated in this Album. I'll just put the names of the Members of the Band that played at the Time.

Best Tracks - "Til Death Do Us Part", "Lavender Hill", "Rosemary Rose", "Mister Songbird", "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and "Plastic Man". The Cover is pretty weird, and it isn't as good as most Kinks Covers. Some strange looking ghosts and some Neon Letters with the Name of the Band.

 

Listen: HERE

The Aerovons - Resurrection

 

The dozen songs that would have been on the Aerovons' album had it come out (though a couple of the songs did come out on a 1969 single) form the core of this release, Resurrection,the U.K. bonus edition also tacks on four bonus tracks. The Aerovons' unusual story -- a band from the American Midwest recording in Abbey Road in 1969, led and produced by their 17-year-old singer-songwriter -- might be the main reason there was interest in excavating these sessions, but this CD is not a mere curio. It's quite respectable late-'60s Beatles-style pop/rock, if a little green around the edges and pretty derivative. In fact, in a couple of spots it's downright imitative, with "Say Georgia" taking licks from "Oh! Darling," and "Resurrection" itself lifting from "Across the Universe." (Neither of those songs had yet been released by the Beatles at the time of the sessions, but the group heard them by virtue of working in Abbey Road.) Fortunately, those are the only blatant cops, though Beatles comparisons abound throughout, particularly in the Paul McCartney-esque piano-playing. Songs like "With Her" and "The Years" recall the acoustic outings of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney on The White Album, while "Bessie Goodheart" uses McCartney's more vaudevillian Sgt. Pepper-era outings as an obvious launching pad, and "Something of Yours" brings to mind "Michelle." To this list you could also add the very Lennon-esque echo on the vocal of "The Children." The Aerovons leaned more toward wistful and sadness-tinged moods than the Beatles did, though. One of the best tracks, "World of You," brings out that quality very well, recalling the better late-'60s orchestrated Bee Gees opuses. The bonus tracks include both sides of a non-LP 1969 single ("The Train," their poppiest number, which echoes both the Hollies and the Bee Gees), the outtake "Here" (very much like McCartney's piano ballads), and a demo of "World of You."  

Listen: HERE

The Kinks - 1969 - Arthur or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire

 

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) extends the British-oriented themes of Village Green Preservation Society, telling the story of a London man's decision to move to Australia during the aftermath of World War II. It's a detailed and loving song cycle, capturing the minutiae of suburban life, the numbing effect of bureaucracy, and the horrors of war. On paper, Arthur sounds like a pretentious mess, but Ray Davies' lyrics and insights have rarely been so graceful or deftly executed, and the music is remarkable. An edgier and harder-rocking affair than Village Green, Arthur is as multi-layered musically as it is lyrically. "Shangri-La" evolves from English folk to hard rock, "Drivin'" has a lazy grace, "Young and Innocent Days" is a lovely, wistful ballad, "Some Mother's Son" is one of the most uncompromising antiwar songs ever recorded, while "Victoria" and "Arthur" rock with simple glee. The music makes the words cut deeper, and the songs never stray too far from the album's subject, making Arthur one of the most effective concept albums in rock history, as well as one of the best and most influential British pop records of its era. [Castle's 1998 CD reissue of Arthur contained ten bonus tracks, including mono and stereo versions of the non-LP singles "Plastic Man," "Mindless Child of Motherhood," and "This Man He Weeps Tonight," mono versions of "Drivin'" and "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina," the B-side "King Kong," and the previously unreleased "Mr. Shoemakers Daughter."]  

 

Listen: HERE